


suppositions

by batofgoodintent (crownedcrusader)



Series: language of committment [2]
Category: Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: F/M, aka how kory got her powers, cw discussions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28052460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crownedcrusader/pseuds/batofgoodintent
Summary: There are plenty of things that Kory hopes her daughter will inherit. Her strength and her flight, and her father's smile and wit, to name a few.Starbolts, on the other hand, are not supposed to be inheritable. Kory is praying it won’t be, but not for the reasons you might think.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Koriand'r
Series: language of committment [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053956
Comments: 14
Kudos: 97





	suppositions

Mar’i And’r-Grayson is the most beautiful child Kory has ever seen. 

And she is not biased, no matter what the others tell her. Roy Harper might have some truly precious pictures of Lian, but Kory knows her child is a supernova in the making. Brighter than the sun, and twice as beautiful. 

Unfortunately, unlike the sun -- which takes a break during the night while everyone sleeps -- Mar’i’s fussiness continues every hour. 

She is only six weeks old, but already the days are bleeding into each other. There is an endless cycle of feeding and changing her and putting her back down to sleep. The cycle is not so different from Dick and Kory’s. They sleep at odd intervals, eat at even stranger ones, and they are lucky if they have a spare moment to shower. 

Kory is lucky that Dick is used to running on little sleep; his help has been invaluable. Granted, she would have been furious if he had immediately gone back to Gotham and patrolling as soon as she gave birth. Instead -- and rightly so -- he has chosen to stay with her until Mar’i is on a more regular day-night schedule.

As he is not patrolling for the foreseeable future, there is a chance that this is the most sleep he has gotten in years.

Kory almost resents him for it. 

But as long as he gets up at three in the morning to give Mar’i another bottle, Kory cannot find fault with it. 

However, this time, Dick does not return at 3:20am to crawl wordlessly into bed. Instead, he stops in front of Kory’s side of the bed, leaning closer to her and brushing her hair away from her eyes. “Kory?” he asks softly. Worried. Kory wakes immediately. “Can you sit up for a moment?” 

That concerned look could wake her if she was dead. Kory sits up immediately, her bright green eyes lighting up the darkness. “What is it?” she asks, already starting to move her legs out from the covers. “Is Mar’i sick?” 

“No, nothing like that. I just have to ask something to be sure it’s normal on the Tamaranean spectrum.”

Kory takes a breath, hand going flat against her chest. “Don’t scare me like that,” she says. “What is it?” 

“Sorry, love.” Dick leans in to kiss her forehead. “It might have been a trick of the light,” he continues, “But -- what age do Tamareans start developing their powers?” 

Kory blinks. Most children don’t start showing them until they are around a year old. “...She was flying already?” 

Dick shakes his head. “No, not yet. I meant the starbolts. I don’t want her to hurt herself.”

And in an instant, Kory’s shoulders tense. “You saw something to suggest she has them?”

“It could have been a trick of the light,” Dick says again. “But I thought her hands were almost… glowing.” 

“I see.” Kory’s jaw sets. Then she finishes getting out of bed, grabbing the silk kimono she keeps hanging above her nightstand. “I will have to see for myself.” 

But as soon as she starts marching out of the room, Dick gently takes her wrist. “Is something wrong? Is it too young for her to start developing those?” 

“She shouldn’t have developed them at all,” Kory snaps. 

Dick freezes. And perhaps the six weeks of interrupted sleep has started getting to him too, because he should have remembered where she got that half of her powers. Still, she sees the pieces click in his mind before she has to say it aloud. She’s grateful. She hates any reminders of the Citadel and their genetic experimentation. Tamareans can fly, and their strength is natural to them. But starbolts -- those are unique to Koriand’r and Komand’r. 

“Shit.” 

She hasn’t heard him swear in years. 

Kory removes her hand from his, then crosses her arms tight over her chest. “She shouldn’t have inherited those,” she finally says. “It never even crossed my mind. For her to inherit them, they must have -- have tampered with something further inside me than I thought.” 

Even in the dim lighting, she can see the heartache in his eyes. “Kory… I’m so sorry,” he says. “Are you alright?” 

“ _ I _ am fine,” she says firmly. “But our daughter is six weeks old, and those experiments were the most painful thing I have ever endured. For all I know, she’s been fussing because she feels that pain right now. There is no precedent for them developing naturally. I have no idea what she may need.” 

Dick’s eyes soften. He reaches for her again, hands firm and reassuring against her upper arms. “We’ve figured it out so far,” he tells her. “I’m sure we can-” 

He’s interrupted by a cry. 

Kory swallows down the spike of fear that fills her chest, then gently pulls away. She has to try very hard not to race to their daughter’s crib. Even then, she is more flying than walking. Mar’i needs her.

Mar’i is in her crib, as always this time of night. But instead of just picking her up in the darkness, Kory flicks on the light switch. Mar’i’s fussiness dials up to ten, and Kory winces when the soft cries escalate to a full-on wail. 

They’re lucky they’ve moved out of the Tower. Otherwise, the entire team would be up by now. They do still have other Titans that drop by, but for the most part, they’re alone in this apartment. They only have to worry about the neighbors overhearing Mar’i -- and frankly, Kory has bigger concerns than the neighbors’ sleep schedule. 

Like whether or not Mar’i is in pain. 

She gently picks up her daughter, cradling her in her arms. “Shh,” she says, and strokes her forehead. “It’s alright, my starshine.” 

Once Mar’i is in her arms, she carefully passes her to Dick. “What do I need to do?” 

“Hold her steady,” Kory instructs. “She might squirm. If she’s in pain, I need to know, so I- So I can look into what she needs.” 

Dick looks grim, but he nods anyway. He holds Mar’i perfectly still, their beautiful little bundle of Tamaranean-Human hybrid. He hopes, almost as much for Kory’s sake as Mar’i’s, that their daughter isn’t in pain. He doesn’t know what it would do to Kory, knowing that her trauma was inherited. 

Fortunately for the both of them, Mar’i settles down once she is in her father’s arms. She is still fussy, but her half-hearted sniffles are nothing to the wailing she does when she really needs something. 

Kory’s shoulders loosen as soon as she settles down. 

But it isn’t over yet. Mar’i’s hands are not glowing now, but she trusts what Dick had told her. It would be difficult to see with the bedroom lights on, anyway. So Kory gently examines her hands, knowing that they are the outlet for that raw energy. 

“What are you looking for?” Dick whispers. 

“Anything.” Kory swallows. “Heat, light. Any of it. In the early stages, it was much weaker. If they are developing with her, it would be weak.” 

But Mar’i’s hands are only as warm as the rest of her, and she is the right temperature for a Tamaranean-Human hybrid. And even when Kory flickers the lights off, her body doesn’t emit any kind of otherworldly glow. 

“Maybe it was just a trick of the light after all,” Dick says, after Kory has examined her daughter in the dark for a few minutes. “A stray beam of light from outside. Her crib is right in the path of the window, after all.” 

“Perhaps,” Kory says. But she doesn’t quite believe it. Dick is a detective -- his eyes are the sharpest of anyone she’s ever known.

Dick bites the inside of his cheek. He starts to rock Mar’i, the rhythm that always gets her to settle down. Before long, even her sniffling has died down. He waits until she’s completely asleep to speak again. “...I’m sorry for waking you -- and for scaring you. I just needed to know if she might burn down her crib.”

He’s purposefully lighthearted, and Kory knows why. But it still doesn’t loosen the vice grip around her chest. “No, I’m glad we checked,” she says. “I will keep an eye out for it. Just in case.” 

Despite Dick’s reassuring smile, and the easy way Mar’i is settled into the cocoon of blankets, Kory cannot bring herself to smile too. 

Dick gently places their daughter back in her crib. Then, he reaches for Kory’s hand. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s get some sleep. You look tired.”

Kory nods. She is. Yet even when they get back to their bedroom, even when they pull the covers back up around them, Kory doesn’t know if she’ll find it in her to sleep. How can she, with the reminder of what was done to her a decade ago? How can she, knowing that her daughter might experience that same pain? 

Even if she comes by her powers naturally, without pain, even if she is spared from the torture Kory had to endure, who says she will not go through something equally terrifying?

Earth is safe, she wants to tell herself. Earth has proven nearly unconquerable, with so many heroes defending it. No matter how many supervillains or megalomaniacs or doomsdays the Earth possesses, it has resisted being controlled. It is perhaps the only planet in the galaxy with so many unique subsects of intelligent life. No conglomerations of culture the way Tamaran has only one ‘race’. Instead, despite all the human differences between groups, despite all of the wars they fight amongst themselves, they have always banded together to fight off conquerors. 

But there are so many in the galaxy who hate Tamaraneans. And just as many who hate Earthlings. 

If her daughter is a child of both worlds, how could she possibly be spared? 

Almost twenty minutes later, Dick shifts beside her. He turns, facing her, and meets her eyes in the darkness. 

“Can’t sleep?” he asks softly. 

Kory shakes her head. “I’m scared for her,” she admits. “Even if she is not in pain from this… There is a chance she will endure it nonetheless. Who could stop her from being captured and tortured the way I was?” 

“Us.” Dick takes her hand. “We could. And for all that you were tortured to gain your powers… You have them now. And if anyone even thinks about taking her, you have the power to protect her. Even if it means vaporizing her captors on the spot.” 

For such a violent statement, it brings Kory peace. “...You’re right,” she says. She sighs through her nose, already starting to relax. “And you are the heir to the world’s greatest detective. If anything should happen to her, I would have your help finding her and bringing her home.” 

Dick brushes hair out from her eyes. “Plus,” he adds, “Even if she does have powers… they’ll help to keep her safe.” 

“And  _ only  _ to keep her safe.” Kory levels a very firm look at him. “Damian is your son, not mine -- I have no say in him being Robin. And I will admit that he is talented. But Mar’i is never, ever going to join this lifestyle.” 

“You ready my mind, starshine.” Dick tucks her hair behind her ear, then leans in to kiss her. It’s exactly the kind of reassurance she needs. Perhaps someday she will ask it again, and again, to ensure that Dick never changes his mind. But for now, she believes him. 

Kory pulls him into her arms and settles against him. For once, he falls asleep before she does. It is then, and only then -- with the two loves of her life peacefully sleeping under the protection of her roof -- that she allows herself to follow. 


End file.
